Chapter 11.2 War
(This entire section received a major update on 10/30/25.)
War vs PVP (Core and PVP War Comparisons)
In PVP, players can protect themselves with protection lanterns, as well as with constructions/culture skills at applicable outposts. In Spirit Relics Core, players are naturally protected from PVP by default regardless of location, except in special circumstances listed in this chapter. After a war is declared, during a break cycle, warring members can override natural protections. Warring players also cannot use other warring resurrection points.
Declaring a War
To declare a war, outpost leaders and allowed players need to enter a pact with the war deity. This is done after creating a war god’s shrine and offering enough tribute to it. This allows visiting players to know visually if you are capable of declaring war if you choose to display it openly. Create a war torch, and send a player to light any of the outpost’s resurrection points. War can only be declared at an outpost. However, any player can attack a player and enter mutual combat without triggering a crime, if a torch bearer is caught. This is the case even if they are not affected by the war. Players can create a new war torch by re-appeasing the shrine after a cooldown.
War Cycles
When a war torch is successfully planted to start infecting an outpost’s fire, by default it takes 2 weeks to fully seed. This is called the Protected Cycle in a declared war. Visually, the time is up when the fire is consumed fully. (Changes appear on all light sources.) The break cycle lasts for 2 weeks. Protections are now broken. If not enough blood is spilt before the time is up, or the outpost is not claimed by the instigator, the war will end. Players can speed this process up by mutually declaring war, or use this time to offer peace tributes to cancel it, if war is not desired. More about this soon.
Cost of war
For protections to be broken, a deity must be paid in spirit. If blood is not spilled to fulfill the pact, the war deity will be dissatisfied and demand blood. It doesn’t matter whose. The scale of blood needed is based on the size of the outpost.
During war, for all parties involved, all new crafts have a spirit debuff. Players and NPC’s have a heavy spirit due to war. Players are encouraged to prepare ahead of time for war materials.
If the cost for blood is not met, meaning, after 2 weeks during the break cycle, not enough blood is spilt for the size of the outpost, the war deity will send war-themed monsters to fight the outpost as a monster threat. Players can offer items to a war deity shrine, during any cycle before the threat to lessen it. Consider heavy spirit costs during war time.
Canceling War
If the war pact is broken after the war torch has been seeded, the threat will start immediately. A leader or allowed player can cancel a war before then, and the torch will immediately break.
Ending a War
Players can end a war in many ways. Not all are ended in PVP combat.
Appease peace deity
The outpost leader and allowed players will unlock a peace deity shrine if not yet unlocked. Construct it, and match the offering needs based on that outpost’s scale. Players have 2 weeks during the protection period. Entering the break cycle will show the shrine as cracked, and it can only be repaired after the break cycle is over.
It is said that the peace deity makes a delicious nectar that drunkens the war deity greatly, that it can’t resist, but only in exchange for canceling the pact.
Appease the war deity
This riskier method needs twice as much spirit value as the attackers need in blood. But meeting this value will send the war deity’s monsters to the attackers. It will still consider their partial or whole threat offerings if made.
Surrender
Surrender can occur at any cycle.
The war declarers are now linked as rulers of the outpost. Their leaders and allowed members own the outpost and their outpost laws are automatically linked, but they can also change it at any time.
Outpost members can still leave the outpost membership.
Enter mutual war
Outposts immediately enter a break cycle. This can be done by the seeded outpost anytime during the protection cycle at the outpost hub. It will unlock the war shrine if not already unlocked by the leaders, and the outpost enters the same war pact. The seeded outpost gains a threat scaled to their outpost size as well, if they fail to appease.
Outpost Abandoned
Full abandonment of an outpost can happen during any cycle.
All players left the outpost, and it is now owned by the victor. Players cannot delete an outpost during war cycles.
Agree to Tribute
Both parties can agree to a set value of trade. When this is met, the war ends without the attacker receiving a monster threat. (Trade deity pays off war deity to forget the pact.) Always consider if appeasing for peace is cheaper.
War pact canceled
The instigators canceled the pact and clear the monster threat from the war deity.
During Break Cycle
Capture the outpost
Players can feed the torch fire of their home outpost into the attacking outpost until it is conquered. The center fire hub takes the longest. When all fires minus the hub, or the hub and at least 50% of the fires are conquered, the outpost is claimed. Remaining resurrection points are flipped to the victor. During a change attempt no groups or players can resurrect there. After a change, any pre-set resurrection points are reset to 0.
All players are defeated. All the players couldn’t resurrect or wouldn’t turn into fireflies for rescue before turning into a corpse.
Illegal War Offerings
Leaders and allowed players can make war offerings and pacts illegal, in the case that the outpost is intended for a peaceful culture. Allowed players that can start a war will drop riftmist as a crime, following typical crime laws based on that outpost. Or a leader can be more picky with who is allowed to enter a pact. A war deity shrine will only communicate with a “worthy” player. Which is a player who is given a role to do so by the outpost owner(s).
Illegal Peace Offerings
Since the peace deity will listen to anyone, and take anyone’s offers, leaders and allowed players can make peace offerings illegal. These are for cases when leaders intend war to occur as planned. In these instances, peace offerings drop riftmist as a crime, following typical crime laws based on that outpost.
War Visibility
Players will be quite used to having name tags marked in the open worlds in other MMORPGs, to know if a player is friend or foe, but this negates the ability to perform espionage. So, by default, players won't be able to tell who is friend or foe, since Spirit Relics doesn't use name tags for aliases and hidden identity purposes. But settlements can assign culture skills that allow foes to be marked within their territory with auras. This is automatic during war invasions. Riftcraft skills themed towards espionage can hide this if proficient enough in either normal instances, and during war invasions. I covered aliases in prior sections.
Joining a War
Players can request and offer to join a war via outpost communications. When a player joins a war, they enter a pact with the war deity. Leaders and allowed members unlock the war shrine. Cancel threat scaling, and blood requirements are scaled separately per outpost. So players need to consider if there is enough blood to go around to appease the need for war, or if they are willing to burn some tribute to make up the difference. Some culture skills helps negate the needed requirement.
Sacrifices
During the final week of a break cycle, NPC and animal sacrifices are worth more, since the deity is growing impatient for blood. This can help appease the difference needed. Culture skills can increase this further.
Changing Defaults Cycle Times - Global Counsel
If the cycle times are too slow for some worlds, players can vote to change the cycle times. A global deity accounts for all normal instances in the world, and can be persuaded by the wills of those high in spirit. Players who attack in war, either through seeding, being seeded, or joining, can unlock a counsel shrine. Further progression in using this unlocks counsel buildings allowing players to join a space to discuss in-game politics. The only limitation to join in this space is the ability to construct it, and currently being a leader or player with a leader role in an outpost.
There are 4 votes possible.
Increase war cycle 2 days (+1 day protection cycle, +1 day break cycle)
Decrease war cycle 2 days (-1 day protection cycle, -1 day break cycle)
Remain the same (No changes)
Not enough votes to sway deity
Return to normal (2 weeks each, move up or down depending on slider)
No vote defaults to this, but players can also vote for it
The max war cycle time is 1 month (31 days).
This way, the world reverts to the global normal if players stop or don’t interact with it. Voting cycles are once a month, tallied on the final day of (a real life) month.
Players can vote at their outpost hub/post, or at a counsel building. Players can pre-vote anytime after a vote is tallied, and a new voting cycle begins.
Players can also vote on war cooldown times. There may be other things players vote on in the future.
War Cooldown
Another war cannot be started until their cooldown has ended. The default war cooldown is 1 month. This includes when players join an existing war. This can be voted on to change by global counsel. However, players can unlock war cultures that allow them to start again sooner, however, at higher appeasement cost, as well as an increased heavy spirit debuff to items created in a war period. The spirit worth of items are lowered by 25%, and the appeasement cost is increased by 50%. If the war deity is appeased by a seeded outpost, the monster threat will increase by x2. There are no culture skills that will negate cost or heavy spirit, as the deities grow tired of your repeat offerings, and the NPC and player's spirit grows even heavier.
Uniforms
Uniforms allow an increased buff to war culture skills and can assign different tiers using banners, licenses, or claim roles. Since culture skills burn tinder flame, players can set different uniforms and role combinations to determine how much resources are allowed to be used within different armies and/or ranks. This allows distinction between hired mercenaries and army members. Some groups may opt to not allow hired players to use culture skills, while distinct members of armies can.
Banners
Players can carry war banners with their armies, which extends certain culture skills in an AOE effect near a banner.
Sanctuaries During War Invasions
Outposts can construct sanctuary controls. During a war invasion (3 or more players have fallen by an enemy attack with witnesses,) or war banners come into radius contact with the claim/outpost. Players who are visitors, and other non-members, will have a timer appear, where they will be protected for a certain amount of time to exit the area. If they stay when this timer runs out, they will be able to be attacked by the invading force. This timer increases based on culture skills applied on the settlement. A player’s active protection lantern and charms are still valid. Optionally, players without protections or charms, (or more often, NPC,) can flee to a Sanctuary.
Sanctuary Functions
Sanctuaries are areas that allow players to wait until a war is over, in hopes that they can resume their normal activities afterwards. More commonly used during political disputes, and not wars against cultures that thrive on brutality. Just like any outpost control, they need tinder to remain an active sanctuary. Inactive sanctuaries will not be safe-havens during invasions, but can have tinder added to it at any time, even by non-members of a outpost. Sanctuaries also function as a means to be better protected from monster attacks, by having a repelling affects against monsters if the spirit values within don't exceed non-faith based spirit values. Players linked to the opponents or too recently left the opponents membership cannot enter a sanctuary.
Sanctuary Repairs
In a sanctuary, faith-based players can pray to recover structural damage over time, instead of needing material and tools. You can still theme sanctuary buildings to be restaurants, inns, hospitals, or other building types, as long as the spirit values don't exceed the faith based requirements.
Destroyed Sanctuaries
Destroyed sanctuaries open up the area to regular warfare PVP. Until then, only the outer structure of a sanctuary can be affected. If you don’t have a safe resurrection point, seriously consider your options for staying vs going when war strikes. Often, it may be best to flee.
Espionage
A player aligned with the raiders, can use riftcraft to disguise themselves, allowing them to enter a sanctuary, but they still can't attack anyone. All attacks are neutralized. But may offer location advice if sanctuaries are hidden, and can identify themselves as an enemy once the sanctuary falls. Or perhaps, they will continue to play out the role of a member of the new settlement, playing the role as someone who was a victim, but offer ground-level intel as the new ruler reins. Riftmist (crime trail) will appear at the area the disguise skill was applied, and once again at a sanctuary entrance. The riftmist will be hidden and appear as usual, where it will remain hidden if not witnessed, and will appear when discovered.